Amazon Studios and Homeboy Industries to provide meals to poll workers on election day

The FINANCIAL — Amazon Studios is teaming up with Homeboy Industries — a Los Angeles-based nonprofit dedicated to gang rehabilitation and re-entry of formerly incarcerated individuals — to support Los Angeles poll workers. On Election Day, Amazon Studios and Homeboy Industries will provide breakfast and lunch for poll workers in select voting centers located in primarily under resourced (structurally marginalized) areas, including East LA, Palmdale, Compton and San Fernando, with the goal of serving approximately 800 poll workers at 55 voting centers across Los Angeles County. The meals will be produced and delivered by Feed HOPE, Homeboy Industries’ newly launched initiative which has delivered more than 150,000 meals to food insecure Angelinos during the COVID-19 pandemic.

In light of the current pandemic, this year’s Presidential Election will be one of the most difficult election processes in recent history. In order to successfully manage Election Day in Los Angeles County, the county government has enlisted thousands of poll workers to support over 700 voting centers on Election Day across the county, including at mega locations such as Dodger Stadium, SoFi Stadium and the Hollywood Bowl. Poll workers are largely responsible for their own food and refreshments while working on Election Day. Amazon Studios and Homeboy Industries are proud to support local communities and poll workers for their dedication and hard work on this pivotal day.

“Amazon Studios is honored to be working with Homeboy Industries, who have made such incredible strides in helping individuals redirect their lives and become contributing members of our community,” said Head of Amazon Studios Jennifer Salke. “In this critical election year, we want to support and be there in meaningful and impactful ways for our local communities, who have always supported Amazon Studios and our business. We understand Election Day will be difficult this year due to the pandemic, so with the help of Homeboy, we’re glad to provide food and some relief for the poll workers. It’s important for us to all come together as a community and support each other this Election Day.”

”During this unprecedented time, the amazing men and women working in the Homegirl Café launched Feed HOPE in a time of need, and we are honored to partner with Amazon Studios to supply Election Day volunteers healthy and delicious meals as they enable democracy in the most deserving communities in Los Angeles,” said Arlin Crane, Vice President of Social Enterprises at Homeboy Industries.

“Elections are the cornerstone of our democracy, and we have to do everything in our power to preserve, promote, and defend the sacred right of all voters to cast a ballot and have a voice in shaping our government and our future,” said Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti. “By providing meals and support to local poll workers, Amazon and Homeboy are tapping into the best of the Angeleno spirit: coming together to strengthen the process by which we choose our leaders, dictate a more just and equitable society, and determine the kind of city and nation we can be.”

“Now more than ever, we see the true value of partnerships in service to our local communities,” said Supervisor Kathryn Barger, Chair of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors. “I am grateful for the collaboration and support from Amazon Studios and Homeboy Industries to provide meals to our vital election workers in underserved regions of the County.”

“These meals, provided through a public-private partnership involving the County, Amazon Studios, and Homeboy Industries, will be a welcome gift to Angelenos who are volunteering their time to serve as frontline workers at the County’s vote centers. I’m especially pleased to know that Homeboy Industries, which employs formerly incarcerated persons, will be preparing and providing the meals,” said Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas. “Research has shown that increasing civic empowerment among justice-involved populations reduces recidivism. Perhaps we’ll see some of the same folks who are delivering the meals at our vote centers this year, casting their ballots, working the polls, and even running for office during the next election cycle.”

As the largest gang rehabilitation and re-entry program in the world, Homeboy Industries is a beacon of hope in Los Angeles providing jobs and wraparound services to formerly gang-involved and previously incarcerated men, women and youth, allowing them to redirect their lives and become contributing members of the community. Each year, over 10,000 former gang members come through Homeboy Industries’ doors in an effort to transform their lives. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Homeboy Industries launched Feed HOPE, a social enterprise which has served more than 150,000 meals to food insecure Angelinos. Led by Homeboy Catering and the Homegirl Cafe, Feed HOPE is serving our communities while also providing hundreds of jobs to women and men working to change the arc of their lives.

In addition to feeding poll workers, Amazon Studios and Homeboy Industries will continue to collaborate in furthering the essential and important work the non-profit provides to African-American and Latinx communities.

Election Day is Tuesday, November 3, 2020.

About Amazon Studios 

Amazon Studios is the home for talent, creating and producing original films and television series for a global audience. Original series all premiere exclusively on Amazon Prime Video, which is available in over 200 countries and territories. Recent hit Amazon Original series include the Emmy Award-winning comedies Fleabag, created by and starring Emmy Award-winner Phoebe Waller-Bridge, and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel from Emmy Award-winners Amy Sherman-Palladino and Daniel Palladino, as well as the action thriller drama Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan starring John Krasinski, the irreverent superhero series The Boys, and fantasy drama Carnival Row starring Orlando Bloom and Cara Delevingne; Amazon Originals also include culturally relevant and buzzed about content such as Rihanna’s Savage X Fenty music and fashion event, Donald Glover’s Guava Island and Chasing Happiness, a documentary about pop superstars the Jonas Brothers.

In film, Amazon Studios produces and acquires original movies for theatrical release and exclusively for Amazon Prime Video. In 2017, Amazon Studios became the first streaming service to win Oscars for Manchester by the Sea and The Salesman. Recent Amazon original movies include the subversive comedy Borat Subsequent Moviefilm with Sacha Baron Cohen, Troop Zero starring Viola Davis and Allison Janney, Tom Harper’s The Aeronauts starring Felicity Jones and Eddie Redmayne, Scott Z. Burns’ The Report, Alma Har’el’s Honey Boy and the Academy Award nominated Les Misérables directed by Ladj Ly. The 2020 slate include the family comedy My Spy starring Dave Bautista and Chloe Coleman, Chemical Hearts starring Lili Reinhart, Sound of Metal starring Riz Ahmed, Sylvie’s Love with Tessa Thompson and Nnamdi Asomugha, Alan Ball’s Uncle Frank with Paul Bettany and Sophia Lillis, I’m Your Woman starring and produced by Rachel Brosnahan and more. In addition, the originals film slate includes a number of diverse first-time feature filmmakers – Blow the Man Down directed by Danielle Krudy and Bridget Savage Cole, Selah and The Spades from director Tayarisha Poe, The Vast of Night directed by Andrew Patterson and 7500 directed by Patrick Vollrath.

About Homeboy Industries

Founded in 1988 by Father Greg Boyle, Homeboy Industries provides hope, training, and support to formerly gang-involved and previously incarcerated men and women allowing them to redirect their lives and become contributing members of our community. Each year over 10,000 former gang members from across Los Angeles come through Homeboy Industries’ doors in an effort to make a positive change. They are welcomed into a community of mutual kinship, love, and a wide variety of services ranging from tattoo removal to anger management and parenting classes.

Whether it be through their 18-month employment and re-entry program, or seeking discrete services such as tattoo removal or substance abuse resources, Homeboy Industries offer their clients a variety of free wraparound services to facilitate healing and growth. In addition to serving almost 7,000 members of the immediate Los Angeles community in 2018, their flagship 18-month employment and re-entry program was offered to over 400 men and women.